Big Steps

Doug and I have lost loved ones this week. His 96-yr-old aunt passed away last Friday. She was the last of his father's generation. He'll attend her funeral on Friday in Exeter.

My mother passed away Tuesday morning. She was so ready to go and my siblings and I knew how much she wanted to be with our Dad. And yet now that it's happened, it's very sobering to think that she's not right here. I'm so thankful for the gospel perspective which makes it easy to say goodbye for we know it's just for a time and then we'll all be together again. I will drive to Salt Lake with Lindy and Shannon and Ruthie Thursday, attend the funeral on Friday and then drive home on Saturday. It will be a sweet time to celebrate her life. I will be speaking at the funeral. Boyce and Janel will be attending the funeral as well.

“DEATH is nothing at all. I have
only slipped away into the next
room. I am I, and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
that we still are. Call me by my old
familiar name, speak to me in the
easy way which you always used.
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or
Sorrow. Laugh as we always
Laughed at the little jokes we
Enjoyed together. Pray, smile, think
Of me, pray for me. Let my name be
Ever the household word that it
Always was, let it be spoken without
Effect, without the trace of a shadow
On it. Life means all that it ever
meant. It is the same as it ever was;
There is unbroken continuity. Why
Should I be out of mind because I
Am out of sight? I am waiting for
You, for an interval, somewhere
very near, just round the corner.
All is well”

Henry Scott Holland
1847-1918
Canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral